It is also arguably the planet’s most strategically important real estate. The crossroads of three continents—Africa, Europe and Asia—it is crisscrossed with crucial sea and land trade routes. It also holds some of the planet’s most valuable resources beneath its soils and sands.

Thus, it has suffered more conquest than anywhere else on Earth. Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks, French, British, Russian and Americans have all sought to outright dominate or project enormous amounts of power into the region.

This is the Middle East.

The historical drama infusing this region continues in our day—including the competing ambitions to dominate, by powers both within and beyond the region.

Where will this battle for domination lead next? Despite the Middle East’s volatility, the Trumpet makes some surprisingly precise and strikingly unusual forecasts for this region.

One of these is that, as various powers jostle to rule the Middle East, there will emerge an alliance among a select group of Arab nations, and it will be joined by a prominent power within Europe.

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The Major Players

Over thousands of years, the names and the people may have changed, but the powers involved in the Middle East are much the same today as they were in the past.

The first is Iran, which, until 1935, was known as Persia. The Persians occupied the same mountainous region on the eastern edge of the Middle East and continually played a large role in the area. At times they outright controlled the territory, as with the Achaemenid Empire (553–330 b.c.), the Parthian Empire (247 b.c.–a.d. 224) and the Sassanian Empire (a.d. 224–651). Even when not in empire mode, the Persians are at least a major regional power.

The second power comes from the Anatolian Peninsula. This geographic location is so pivotal that whichever power controls it exerts a major influence on the Middle East. Out of Anatolia came the long-lasting empires of the Byzantines (a.d. 330–1453) and the Ottoman Turks (a.d. 1299–1922). Today the peninsula is ruled by Turkey, the nation-state left over from the Ottoman Empire.

More impressive than the Arabs’ territorial gains was their cultural conquest. In nearly all the territories they conquered, the Arabs left the lasting imprints of their language, their Muslim religion and their race.

The third major power is a group of people: the Arabs. Arab conquests began in the seventh century a.d. with the founder of Islam, Mohammed. He unified the Arabian Peninsula under his control and his religion. After his death in 632, Arab armies broke out of the peninsula, and the Arab people amassed a large empire stretching from India all the way to Spain.

More impressive than the Arabs’ territorial gains was their cultural conquest. In nearly all the territories they conquered, the Arabs left the lasting imprints of their language, their Muslim religion and their race. So successful was their conquest that today there are 22 Arab states covering a vast geographic area. After the Han Chinese, the Arabs are the second-largest ethnicity in the world.

The Arab dynasties lost control of the Middle East in the 11th century, but a millennium later, their culture still dominates the region. The large Arab population of Egypt and the oil wealth of Saudi Arabia give these two Arab nations heavy influence in the Middle East, especially over nations with smaller Arab populations.

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World Powers Stake Their Claim

Iran, Turkey and the Arabs continue to exert influence and to ally with world powers to gain an edge in the incessant struggle for command over this crucial region. And those world powers cannot be ignored if you want to understand what is happening in the Middle East—and what is about to happen.

However, the Middle Eastern map we see today was largely determined by world powers from outside the region. Britain and France broke up the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War i, exerting influence and control by refashioning the region more to their advantage and by creating new nations such as Syria and Iraq. After World War ii, the British and French were too economically drained to keep their empires, and the governments they had previously installed in the Middle East remained in power.

World powers also created the Jewish nation of Israel, which proclaimed its establishment and was recognized by the United States on May 14, 1948. On May 15, the Arab world erupted in an armed assault, with Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia attacking the new Jewish state in an attempt to destroy it. The attack failed.

The governments of these Arab nations were unstable. Their failures to destroy Israel led to the Syrian military overthrowing the Syrian regime in 1949 and the Egyptian military overthrowing the Egyptian regime in 1952.

In general, Middle Eastern governments fell back on more oppressive measures to control their populations. Many of them also sought alliances with either the United States or Russia to gain financial aid and weapons.

The American superpower, possessed of a sense of responsibility for bringing stability to the Middle East, found itself forced to juggle between the expedience of allying with dictators and the aspirations of promoting democratic ideals and values. In many cases, it wound up pressuring strongmen to become more democratic and to improve their human rights records.

Two presidents in particular, Jimmy Carter (1977–1981) and Barack Obama (2009–2017), chose to push allies toward democracy. This undermined the power of dictatorial allies like Iranian Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (overthrown in 1979), Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (overthrown in 2011) and Libyan strongman Muammar Qadhafi (also overthrown in 2011). Ironically, the demise of these regimes led to more oppressive governments, increased terrorism and more political instability.

Two U.S. presidents, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, chose to push allies toward democracy. This undermined the power of dictatorial allies. Ironically, the demise of these regimes led to more oppressive governments, increased terrorism and more political instability.

After Middle Eastern strongmen fell in the 2011 Arab Spring, two distinct Middle Eastern alliances emerged. The Trumpet has forecast the first alliance for decades: Iran’s rise as king of the region. But the Trumpet has also forecast the emergence of a confederation of Arab states in something of an anti-Iranian alliance. Though in modern times, the Arab League and other similar efforts have achieved precious little or have failed to hold together at all, the Trumpet still expects an Arab confederation to achieve some measure of success in the time just ahead.

What is more, we forecast that an outside power will conspicuously align with this coalition of Arab states: none other than Germany.

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Bible Prophecy Gives the Answer

A prophecy in Daniel 11 describes dramatic events that Daniel said would occur “at the time of the end.” Verses 40-43 read:

And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

This prophecy speaks of a northern power bloc and a southern power bloc that clash in a dramatic war involving multiple nations. The king of the south pushes at the king of the north, and in retaliation, the king of the north conquers the king of the south.

From the vantage point of the Middle East (from where Daniel wrote), the greatest power in this end time that lies “north” is Europe. Other prophecies in the Bible forecast a German-led European superpower that would rise in this same “end time.” (To find proof of the identity of the “king of the north,” read Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.)

Daniel says the king of the south will push. Iran’s foreign policy is already very pushy and aggressive, and it is easy to foresee various ways Iran could intensify its push against Europe: by acquiring nuclear weapons; by increasing terrorism; by shutting down trade through the Red Sea; and/or by trying to take over Jerusalem, a city that Catholic Europe has historically coveted.

The prophecy in Daniel, combined with another prophecy in Psalm 83, explains what will happen in the Middle East after Iran has risen in power.

While Daniel shows the nations that will ally with Iran, the prophecy in Psalm 83 shows a group of nations in the Middle East that will ally not with Iran but against it—and with “the king of the north,” German-led Europe!

However, this prophecy reveals a crucial truth: This alliance is primarily and ultimately concerned not with countering Iran but with destroying Israel.

Read it for yourself in the beginning of this psalm: “They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance” (Psalm 83:3-4). This clearly stated the destructive purpose for which the confederation described in this prophecy comes together.

This alliance is primarily and ultimately concerned not with countering Iran but with destroying Israel.

But which nations and peoples are to undertake this scheme? “For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them …” (verses 5-8).

Many of these ancient names refer to nations that still exist in the same territory. Moab and Ammon both refer to Jordan. The Philistines refers to displaced Palestinian Arabs. Tyre is Lebanon. Ishmaelites is the prophetic term for the Arabs of modern Saudi Arabia. Other identities, such as Assur and Edom, can be proven through other research. Edom is modern Turkey. Assur refers to Germany.

This prophecy boldly states that several Arab nations and peoples will form an unusual alliance with Turkey—which has essentially become a Muslim state—and, of all nations, Germany!

So how can we know this prophecy is for our day, the end time? Because there has never been such an alliance as this to attack or totally destroy Israel in history. Many sources confirm this fact. Concerning this psalm, the Anchor Bible reads, “History transmits no record of the national crisis when the nations enumerated in this psalm formed a league to wipe out Israel ….” Lange’s Commentary points out, “The 10 nations who are here enumerated as being combined against Israel, are never mentioned elsewhere as enemies allied at the same time and for the purpose of annihilating Israel.”

Other commentaries make the same point. The alliance here described has not yet formed because this is, in fact, a prophecy. It is still yet to form in the end time, contemporaneous with the prophecy of Daniel 11!

In fact, evidence is mounting in today’s headlines of this alliance forming now, fulfilling this ancient prophecy!

Putting this together with other prophetic biblical passages shows that the relationship between Turkey and Germany will specifically contribute to the destruction of Israel. The Prophet Obadiah recorded an extraordinary end-time prophecy about “Edom,” whose modern descendants are the Turks. It shows how Turkey, possessing an escape route via land—for example, the Cilician Gates mountain pass—will actually betray the modern Israelites who are trying to flee, delivering them into the hands of their conquerors.

While at the moment official relations are somewhat “warm” between Turkey and Israel, this prophesied betrayal shows that anti-Semitism and antipathy for the Jewish state (as well as America) will continue to develop within Turkey. As that nation becomes more firmly Islamic, anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, already rampant, are growing within Turkish media and among the Turkish people. The U.S. and Israel are willing to overlook this only because it is desperate to retain Turkey’s help. However, the prophecies in Psalm 83 and Obadiah indicate that their trust in Turkey will end in disaster.

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Germany’s Strategic Interest in the Middle East

Bible prophecy clearly details the coming alliances within the Middle East and with Germany. That makes it particularly intriguing to recognize just how Germany’s own geopolitical interests are driving it toward allying with these Sunni Arab states. We are watching and reporting regularly on Berlin creating progressively stronger bonds of economic and defense cooperation with these nations, headed up by Saudi Arabia as well as the Turks.

In recent years, the German Navy has deployed heavily in the Mediterranean to protect its own and Europe’s interests across what Winston Churchill called “the soft underbelly of Europe.” Its deployments off the coasts of Lebanon and northern Libya and off the Horn of Africa, under the auspices of United Nations mandates, have provided crucial toeholds to building a future German presence from the Levant to the Gulf of Oman.

Berlin’s cooperation with the United Arab Emirates began not long after the Berlin Wall fell and Germany reunited in 1989. The emirate of Qatar has since bought into Volkswagen, while the Aabar Investment Society of Abu Dhabi bought into Daimler, Germany’s largest automobile producer. ThyssenKrupp’s U.A.E. partner, the Abu Dhabi Mar Consortium, now owns majority shares in the Nobiskrug Shipyard, which has until recently specialized in producing luxury ships in Rendsburg, Germany. More significantly, in 2005, Germany signed an agreement of cooperation in the military field with the U.A.E. This agreement led ThyssenKrupp in 2009 to renounce “civilian ship production to concentrate its dockyards solely on arms production. It is entering a ‘strategic partnership’ with the Abu Dhabi Mar Co. from the U.A.E. Their deal seals the military alliance between Germany and the Emirates, possibly creating the opportunity for circumventing German arms exports regulations and ending efforts aimed at forging a German/French ship production …” (German-Foreign-Policy.com, Oct. 26, 2009).

In Bahrain, Germany has supported the ruling Sunni al-Khalifa clan for a decade in order to prevent an Iranian-inspired Shiite takeover. Germany has supplied Bahrain with naval patrol boats since the time the Middle East was destabilized by the shah of Iran’s fall. In more recent years, Germany has stepped up its arms exports to Bahrain, especially weapons types that have historically been used to put down insurrection; arms which were used to prevent the 2011 attempted takeover of the government during the Arab Spring.

Germany has chosen a side in the divided Middle East. By supporting the Sunni Arab nations, Germany is working to contain a pushy Iran.

Germany has also intensified its political and military ties with Qatar dating back to 2007. The German government approved the sale of 36 Leopard 2 tanks and 24 armored Howitzer 2000 self-propelled artillery systems as the first delivery of heavy military equipment to the emirate. And since 2008, Saudi Arabia has been licensed to produce German weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch rifles. As a result, the Saudi Arabian Army has been using these weapons since 2015, including in Yemen—which has led to a serious backlash within Germany, as it is seen to be complicit in exacerbating the ongoing civil war. In 2011, Berlin and Saudi Arabia struck a multibillion-euro arms deal in which the Saudis agreed to purchase hundreds of German-manufactured tanks.

In 2015, the jump in arms sales to Gulf states was so large that many concerned Germans called for the resignation of the economy minister. Leaked figures indicated that the government approved $8.9 billion worth of sales in 2015, twice the amount in 2014.

These defense deals, as well as the strengthening economic ties, clearly show that Germany has chosen a side in the divided Middle East. By supporting the Sunni Arab nations, Germany is working to contain a pushy Iran.

However, as the Psalm 83 prophecy shows, there is more to Germany’s defense contracts in the Middle East than just as a counter to Iran. Its activities in the region are preparing it for a major showdown with the nations of Israel. According to prophecy, its shockingly violent, blitzkrieg attack on Iran and its allies will only serve as a precursor to a far more shocking and violent double cross against the modern descendants of the ancient Israelites, including the Jewish state, America and Britain.

While Germany’s growing power in the Middle East is becoming more obvious to analysts in recent years, the Trumpet’s editor in chief was the first to expose this trend, before there was much evidence of collusion with Germany. That is because his analysis was based on the prophecies found in Psalm 83, Daniel 11 and elsewhere in the Bible.

This alliance of Middle Eastern states and Germany is far from complete. There are still nations in the prophecy, such as Lebanon and Syria, that remain under Iran’s sway. However, just as we knew that the Gulf states would turn to Germany for support, so too do we expect Syria and Lebanon to eventually fall out of Iranian influence and turn to Germany.

This is why the Trumpet watches for an imminent alliance to form between Arab nations and Europe!

THE ALLIANCE NO ONE SEES COMING

Sometimes nations make surprising alliances before and during the eruption of war. Flurries of alliances preceded the worst wars in human history, violence that killed millions of people.

Such an alliance is forming now, but few recognize it. Several nations inside the world’s most explosive region are strengthening their bond with an undercover empire. The more time that passes, the more you will see this alliance emerge. How can the Trumpet make that forecast? It comes from the Holy Bible (Daniel 11; Psalm 83). Find out how one of the world’s oldest books predicts the future 21st-century alliance between several Arab nations, Turkey, and a European empire. Request your free copy of The King of the South, by Gerald Flurry.